Wood-cart



3 Sheets-.Sheet 1.

(NoModel.) y

E. L., G. W. an E. E. HIGGIN WOOD GART N0.`498,056. Patented May 2s, 189s.'

3 Sheets-Sheet `2.

(No Model.)

E. L., G. W. 8v E. E. HIGGINS.

WOOD UART. No. 498,056. ,l Patented May 23, 1893.l

@MQz/WM Y (NoMoael.) y a sheets-sheets.

y E. L., G. W.. 8L E. E. HIGGINS. I

WOODVGART.

Patented May 23,1893.

4livering slab wood from saw mills.

' NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EBEN L. HIGGINS, GEORGE W. HIGGINS, AND ELMER E. HIGGINS, OF

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 498,056, dated May 23, 1893. Application filed February 4:, 1893. ,Serial No. 461,030. (No model.)

To all whom, #may concern,.-

Be it known that we, EBEN L. HIGGINS, GEORGE W. HIGGINS, and ELMER E. HIGGINS, citizens of the United States, residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Wood-Carts; and we do hereby declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Our invention relates todump carts. The invention is especiallyr designed for use on wood carts, of the kind employed for handling sawedand split wood, particularly in the lumber countries for carting away and de- This class of carts is provided with a reach rod or coupling pole, for connection with a front pair of trucks to which the team is attached. In loading, the cart proper is disconnected from the team truck, and the front end ofthe reach rod is held up by a prop. One team truck is made to answer for several carts. The usage to which this class of carts is subjected is extremely rough. The wood is sold by the load; and hence the cart boX must be filled. The standard load of green or damp slab wood will weigh about two tons. The wear and tear from the loading, and thejarring strains from the carting and dumping action, under such a load, are so great that all parts of the cart must be made very strong. The blow on the reachrod,for example, from the loaded box, if the front end of the rod should drop to the ground, which often happens, is something enormous. Hitherto, so far as we are aware, the box and'reach-rod of these carts have been made of wood. When so made, to obtain the requisite strength, the wooden parts must have so much mass or bulk as to be cumbersome and heavy. Even when so made, the cart boxes will rapidly wear out, and the reach rods be frequently broken under the rough usage incidental to the service.

One object of our invention, is to providea cart body and reach rod of great strength and durability, which shall, atthe same time, be comparatively light, as compared with the wooden carts.

Another dificulty with carts hitherto made, when used for hauling wood, has been to find a satisfactory end gate. Hitherto, common boards have chiefly been used for that vpurpose. Under the pressure of the load, it is difficult to take out the boards without breaking. When released at one end, the boards will frequently fly out and be buried under the pile. Oftt'imes, the boards will be broken in the dumping strain or from the weight of the wood. Again, theboards will frequently interfere with the dumping of the load, if they should bind or be released at one end only. It takes considerable time for the teamster, to knock out the boards, dig the same out of the pile and restore them to position on the empty cart. Moreover, the end boards will frequently become lost from the empty cart, and much time is taken in hunting up and substituting new ones. A solid end gate hinged to the cart, at one end, or sliding in vertical Ways, cannot be employed. The sidewise opening solid gate would not permit the dump of the cart box; and the vertically moving sliding gate would require a crow bar and `much time to lift.

The chief object of our invention is, to provide an end gate free from the objections above noted, which can be instantly released, which will give a free dump, which'is impossible to break by the usage, and which can never be lost. To this end,we provide a co1- lapsible end gate, which is preferably in the form of chains or a chain net, attached at-one end to the cart body and temporarily securable thereto at the other. The securing devices, for the free ends of the chains, are preferably in the form of pivoted latch-hooks, adapted to be set before the dump, to permit the release of the chains from the hooks under the strain from the lwood in the dumping action. Such an end gate will instantly collapse and fly out of the road ofthe wood, when vthe dump occurs, and, in virtue of its attachment at one end to the come displaced. A

The special construction of. the cart-body and reach-rod, will appear in the detailed description, and be defined in the claims.

Our invention is illustrated in the accomcart-box, cannot .be-

IOO

panying drawings, wherein, like letters referring tolike parts throughout the several views, Figure l is a left side elevation of our improved cart,apart of the running gear being shown in central longitudinal section. Fig. 2 is a rear View of the cart box, removed from the truck. Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section taken on the line X X' of Fig.1,looking toward the rear of the cart, a part of the spring latch being broken away. Figs. 4 and 5 are sectional views taken, respectively, on the lines Y Y and Z Z of Fig. 3,showing the construction of the corners at the front end of the cart box. Fig. 6 is a plan view of the cart truck proper, with box removed, showing our preferred form of the reach-rod or pole; and Fig. 7 is a similar view, showing a modiiiedform of the reach-rod.

Referring briefly to the cart as an'entirety, A and B are respectively the team and body trucks of the cart, connected by a reach rod C; and D is the body or dumping box; hinged to the said rear truck B. The team truck A is of the ordinary form provided with a relnovable king bolt or coupling pin a. The reach-rod C is preferably constructed .of a pair of angle irons, having their ange edges secured'together, in the form of a channel iron, as shown in Figs. Sand 6; and having their rear ends C divergent, forming a Y. These divergent ends of the Y shaped reachrod, may be directly secured to the axle b of the body truck B; but are, as a matter of preference, attached to the said axle by means of upper and under extension bars()2 C3, rcspectively. The forward part of these bars C2 C3 are rigidly clamped and secured' to the said divergent ends of the reach rod, by means of nutted bolts C4 passing through perforations in the said parts; and the rear ends of said bars C2 and C3 are clamped onto and securely held with the axle b by means of a pair of nutted clamp bolts C5 on opposite sides of the axle.

Atthe front end, the angleirons composing the reach-rod C are united by a U shaped iron Cthrough perforations C7 in which and thefupp'er flanges of 'the reach-rod, the king boltuJ of the team truck is inserted in coupling the trucks together. `About midway of the reach-rod, the angle irons are again secured together by means of bolts and nuts CS working through a filling block C9. As is obvious, in virtue of this construction, the

reach-rod, while being comparatively light,`

will havea great strength both in the vertical and lateral direction. The rear ends of the upper extension bars Ciare provided with vertical perforations or hinge-eyes C10, in each of which work one of a pair of hinge-eyes E rigid on a transverse angle-bar E. This angle-bar E is rigidly secured to the bottom of the dump box D, and the engagement of the said hinge-eyes C10 and E, constitute the connecting hinge between thebox and the axle.

Referring in detail to the construction of idly secured together by means of U shaped metallic yokes d3, d4, d5, cland dl; these yokes are preferably made of angle irons as shown in the drawings. Of these yokes, the horl- `zontal yoke di* forms the bottom corner and brace, and the vertical yoke di* forms the front end corner and brace,both yokes being formed 1 integral or solid at their meeting or coincident edges. The manner in which the said angle iron braces d3 and d4 form the corner of the box is illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5. The horizontal yoke braced5 forms the upper supporting rim of the box. The vertical rear end yoke d has its bottom'portion secured to the under side'of the open end of the box,extends outward beyond, the same, is bent upward and inward at the opposite sides of the box, as shown in Fig. 2, and is rigidly secured at its upper ends to the opposite sides of the open end of the box. of the open end are faced with angle iron posts d8 rigidly secured thereto; and the connection of the upper ends ofthe yoke c i to the box, is made to said posts d8. In virtue of this construction of the yoke de, the outer portions of the same taken together with the posts d8, form triangular braces for therear end of the box, thus affording an extremely rigid-and simple construction. The yokes d? are intermediate braces for strengthening the Preferably the corners centralportion of the box,in a lateral direcy tion.'

To thefront end of the box, located cerrtrally thereof, is secured a spring latchl lF, provided witha hand piece G. This latch F is automatically engaged by the down motion of the front end ofi the cart, with-a latch lng or catch block F', rigidly secured to the reachrod;r andV is disengaged from said latch'lug position.

The serles of pivoted latch-hooks K, arose# 4cured to the side of the box at its rear left vmargin, as shown,working through elongated slots K in the left vertical angle post de, and projecting to the rear of the same. Allof the series of latch-hooks K` are connected for `a common movement, by means of atierod K2, and one of said hooks, as shown, the lower hook, is provided with a handle extension K3, by means of which the entire series of hooks ITO may be simultaneously set in either locked or releasing positions.

Referring to Fig. l, -theffull lines show the locked positions of the hooks, and the dotted lines indicate the releasing positions of the same. The hooks and their connections are set under sufficient frictionV to `hold the said parts in their releasing positions against gravity. This friction may be given in any suitable way, as by making the pivoted joints ot' the hooks and their connections suiciently tight.Y

It will be observed that the engaging ends of the hooks K, when thrown into the releasing positions, while the box remains in its normal position, will stand at an angle to a horizontal plane, `of aboutforty-ive degrees; thence the hook-eyes h at the free ends of the gate-chains, will not be immediately re-l leased. When, however, the cart box isV dumped, the said hook-endswill be turned downward, and under the increased pressure of the load in the box, the gate will be thrown open, and to one side, in a collapsed condition. As the chains collapse the very instant that they are released from the hooks, by the pressure from the load, they do not in anywise obstruct or interfere with the dumping of the wood. As they are fast to the box at one end they cannot be displaced or lost. The chains will not break Vand willlast indefinitely.

It is 4obvious ,that the hooks K might readily be given sufficient movement, by the action of the handlever, to release the gate before4 dumping the cart; but we prefer to construct the same as previously set forth. It is also evident that various other alterations in the construction and arrangement of the devices might be made, without departing from the spirit of our invention. For instance, the collapsible gate might be constructed out lof, rope or lwire cable. In other Words, agate constructed of any Amaterial or in any manner which would give a collapsible structure,

would fall Within thescope of our invention.

The phrase, collapsiblek gate as used throughout the specification, and the claims of this case, is meant to signify a structure having the properties of a chain, rope, wire, net, or in other words, which is not self-sustainable. The chains or chain net are, however, by far the most desirable construction. Rope would not stand the wear and tear from the work for any considerable length of time. Wire cable would answer fairly well, but would not be so flexible as the chains.

The words permanently and temporarily as used in the description of the fasten-` ings for the flexible gate and in the claims are intended to apply to the functions of the said fastenings in the operation of the gate. As is obvious, the fastenings h, termed permanent might readily be made removable in construction.

Fig. 7 shows a modified form of the reachrod, in which the angle irons M of the rod are run straight and are secured to .the axle at their rear ends by the bolts and nuts m. In this construction, the extension bars C2 are provided with forwardly projecting angular braceextensions m which are secured to the sides of the reach rod by means of nuts and bolts 'm2, thus forming side bracesV for strengtheningthe reach-rod. rlhe other details of construction used in the truck are similar to those shown in Fig. 6.

The cart-box and reach-rod constructed as herein described, are of less weight ythan the wooden cart-box-and reach-rod hitherto used, and are much stronger and more durable. They will last for a great while under the roughest usage.

The collapsible end gate herein shown and described is,` of course, applicable to all kinds of carts, and effects a large economy in time ters Patent of the United States, is as follows: y 1. A dumping box for carts or other vehicles provided with a collapsible end gate permanentlysecured to thebox at onemargin, and temporarily securable thereto at the other, whereby, when the same is released at one margin, the load may be dumped without interference or loss of the end gate.

2. A dumping box, for carts or .other vehicles, provided. with a collapsible end. gate composed of chains permanently secured to the box at one margin, and temporarily securable thereto at the other, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. A dumping box for carts or other vehicles provided with a collapsible end gate, concurable thereto at theother, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

' 4.` In a cart or other dumping vehicle, the combination with a dumping box and a collapsible end gate of fastening or latching devices on the box, for securing the free end of the gate; adapted to be set in advance of the dump, to permit the release of the gate in the dumping action.

5. In a cart or other dumping vehicle the combination with a dumping boxpand the collapsible end gate, consisting of a series Aof chains permanently secured to one margin of the box, of a series of pivoted latch hooks ou the opposite margin of the box for temporarily securing the free lends of the chains, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

6. In a cart or other dumping vehicle, the combination with the dumping box and the collapsible end gate consisting cfa series of chains attached at one end and f ree at the other, of a series ofY pivoted latch hooks for temporarily securing the free ends of the sisting of a chain net permanently secured to the box at one margin, and temporarily sechains connected foracommon movement,

and a hand device for operating said latches, substantially as and for the purpose set forth. 7. The combination with a dumping box of the collapsible end gate consisting of a chain net, permanently attached to the box at one margin, and free at the opposite margin, of the series of pivoted latch hooks on the box connected for a common movement, engageable with eye links on the free end of the chain net, and adapted to be set in advance of the dump to release the free ends of the net on the dumping movement of the box.

S. The combination With the dumping box of the chain net end gate attached at one margin of the box, and pivoted latch hooks, one of which is extended to form a hand lever, and the rod connecting said hooks, the said parts Working under friction, adapting the same to stay where set, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

9. In a dump cart,the combination with the reach-rod, provided with a catch lug, of the dumping box provided at its front end with a spring catch automatically engageable with said lug, and provided with a hand piece for disengaging the spring from the lug, substantially as described.

10. In a four wheeled dump cart, a reachrod or coupling pole constructed of angle iron for aording great strength with relatively small weight, substantially as described.

11. In a four wheeled cart, a reach-rod or coupling pole constructed of angle ironin the form of a Y, with the divergent parts of the same attached to the cart box axle, whereby the reach rod is self braced from the rear axle.

12. Adunip cart box constructed with sheet metal sides and front end, and a series of U shaped metallic yokes securin g said sides'and front end together and tothe bottom of the box, substantially as described.

13. A dump cart box constructed with sheet met-al sides and front end, and a series of U shaped yokes formed of angle iron securing said sides andfrontend together and to the bottom of the box, substantially as described.

14. A dump cart box constructed with sheet metal sides and front end and a series of U shaped yokes securing said sides and front, end together and to the bottom of the box; said yokes comprising the horizontal bottom yoke d, and the vertical end yoke d4 said yokes cl3 and d* forming corner irons for the bottom and front end corners of the box,sub stantially as described.

15. A dump cart box constructed with sheet metal sides and front end and a series of U shaped yokes securing said sides and front end together and to the bottom of the box; said yokes comprising the rear end yoke d secured to the bottom margin of the rear end of the box, extending outward beyond the box, turned upward and inward,and secured to the sides of the box, or box frame, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

EBEN L. HIGGINS. GEORGE W. HIGGINS. ELMER E. HIGGINS.

Vitnesses: GEORGIA KIPP, JAS. F. WILLIAMSON. 

